Voting at the polling station with photo ID on 4 May

When you arrive at your polling station, you will need to tell the polling station staff your name, address and show them your photo ID.

The polling station staff will:

• check that you’re on the electoral register
• check that your photo ID is accepted, and that it looks like you
• cross your name off the register, and give you your ballot paper or papers (you might have more than one ballot paper if there is more than one election taking place in your local area on the same day)

Find out more about voting in person at the polling station.

If you want to ask a question or raise a concern about the process in your local polling station, you will need to contact the Returning Officer at your local council.

If you are registered to vote anonymously, you will be asked to show your poll card and Anonymous Elector’s Document (AED).

If you wear a face covering to the polling station, you will be asked to momentarily remove it so that polling station staff can check the ID looks like you. Face coverings can be worn for the rest of the voting process

If you wear a face covering for any reason, you can find out more about the process of having your ID checked.

The name on your ID should be the same as the name you used to register to vote.

If you recently got married and updated your name on the electoral register but haven’t updated your photo ID yet, the Presiding Officer at the polling station should discuss the name difference with you. They may request additional evidence to help connect the photo ID and the name on the register, such as a marriage certificate, a birth certificate, or a utility bill. If the Presiding Officer is satisfied as to your identity, they will issue the ballot paper. If not, you’ll be asked to return with a different form of photo ID where the names are the same. If you don’t have a different form of photo ID, you won’t be able to vote in the election on 4 May.

The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for the elections on 4 May has passed. You can still apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for use at future elections now, if you want to.

The polling station staff will be checking that your photo ID has the right name on it, and that the photo looks like you. They will not be looking at the address on your photo ID. 

If your photo is refused at the polling station and the polling station staff can’t give you your ballot paper, you’ll be able to go back later with a different form of photo ID.

If you want to ask a question or raise a concern about your photo ID being refused, you will need to contact the Electoral Registration Officer at your local council.

You can find the contact details for your local council by entering your postcode into our search.

Voters could apply for free photo ID, known as a Voter Authority Certificate, until 25 April.

If your Voter Authority Certificate hasn’t arrived

If you applied for a Voter Authority Certificate before the deadline and it hasn’t arrived, you should contact your local council. 

You can find their contact details by entering your postcode into our search.

If you lost your ID after the Voter Authority Certificate application deadline

If you lost your only form of accepted photo ID after the Voter Authority Certificate application deadline, you can apply for an emergency proxy vote. The person you choose to vote on your behalf, also called your emergency proxy, will need to show their own ID (and not yours).

Find out more about emergency proxy votes.

If you don’t have photo ID and didn’t apply for a Voter Authority Certificate

If you don’t have an accepted form of photo ID, and you didn’t apply for a Voter Authority Certificate before the deadline, you won’t be able to vote in the election on 4 May.

The deadline to apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for the elections on 4 May has passed. You can still apply for a Voter Authority Certificate for use at future elections now, if you want to.

We have a statutory duty to collect data and publish reports about elections that take place across the UK. We also choose to report on other elections.

Find out about how we’ll be reporting on the May 2023 elections.